VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Jordan Malone and his teammates on the United States short track speed skating team were primed for a celebration.

They capped their Olympics with a bronze medal in the men’s 5,000-meter relay on Friday night at Pacific Coliseum, polishing off the best Olympic performance ever by an American short track team with six medals, including four on the men’s side.

Malone, the 25-year-old Denton native, won his first medal in his Olympic debut. Ditto for teammates Travis Jayner and Simon Cho, while Apolo Anton Ohno and J.R. Celski had won individual medals earlier in Vancouver.

After the grand finale, they were due for some kind of elaborate party or gourmet celebration dinner, right?

“We all got a chance to go to McDonald’s,” Malone said Saturday. “We had a victory meal. I know McDonald’s doesn’t sound like a whole lot, but when it’s staring you down every time you’re in the cafeteria, and you’re not able to eat it because it’s not part of your diet, then a Quarter Pounder is so sweet.”

The medal earned a measure of redemption for Malone after disappointing finishes in his two individual races in Vancouver. He was disqualified in his preliminary heat in the 1,500 meters and crashed in his first-round heat in the 500.

Malone said he was motivated by all of the support and well-wishes he received from his fans in Denton, who staged watching parties and sent him encouraging messages leading up to each of his races.

“I had all this support from Denton and Dallas and Texas in general. Now I’m coming home with something around my neck,” he said. “I was taking video of the flame earlier, and I realized the Olympic flame means so much more when you have real estate in it.”

Malone said earning a team medal was especially rewarding for each of the teammates, who train together most of the year in Salt Lake City.

“We race individually 90 percent of the time, but we train as a team,” Malone said. “We get the one opportunity to actually compete solely for the USA and solely as a team and as brothers. We’ve been so close, and we’ve put everything on the line for each other. We’ve done it for ourselves, but in this situation it’s for each other. To be able to share everything -- victory and defeat -- being on the podium was the most special thing.”

Canada won the gold medal in the relay and South Korea took the silver. The U.S. sat in fourth place for much of the 45-lap race, but Ohno made a late pass of the Chinese team to get the Americans into bronze medal position.

“The last half of the race, I couldn’t even hear myself think, because Canada was in front and the whole crowd was going bonkers,” Malone said. “It was so loud. That was an epic feeling.”

The relay medal was the eighth medal for Ohno, adding to his tally as the most decorated American athlete in Winter Olympics history. He has won bronze in the relay in each of the last two Olympics, something he said adds extra meaning.

“I think if I had a choice to win a medal by myself or together as a team, I would choose the team medal over the individual glory,” Ohno said. “To share this with these guys, after spending these past months together focusing in on this, would be my first choice.”

As for his plans, Malone intends to continue competing in short track, with hopes of earning a spot on the U.S. team for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

In the more immediate future, he and his teammates (except Ohno) will end their season at the ISU World Championships in three weeks in Sofia, Bulgaria. But prior to that will be a short breather to exhale and take in their achievements.

“We’re relaxed. The stress is off,” Malone said. “We’re coming home with hardware.”

TODD JORGENSON can be reached at 940-566-6871. His e-mail address is tjorgenson@dentonrc.com.